It's Like Christmas!

Our box from Sonlight arrived the other day! It was so exciting to pull everything out :) It was like Christmas in July...at least for me! At the time, noone else was home :) I'm not sure it was quite as exciting for everyone else when they did see it, but I am a freak when it comes to school and office supplies...I could spend hours (literally) wandering the aisles in Office Depot. Don't even get me started on the Back to School aisles at the big box stores...There is just something about the smell of notebook paper and binders that I love. (By the way, Steve and Brett are really excited, just maybe not at my level...)

Okay, back to the topic....Out of the box comes a Teacher's Guide. I'm in love already! Next, the inserts for the guide...woo hoo! Then, I reach in and begin pulling out book after book...I'm talking about good stuff here! The Boxcar Children, The Light at Tern Rock, Mary on Horseback, Johnny Appleseed, The Story of William Tell, The Hundred Dresses, The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago, The Usborne's Internet Linked Children's Encyclopedia, The Family Under the Bridge, The Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes....it goes on and on. There are so many! I think 24 or 25 in all. Not to mention the K level readers for Brett to begin sounding out words and reading. Then out comes a fully laminated GIGANTIC foldable map of the U.S. on one side and World Map on the other side. We also received a book called "The Book of Time". It is an empty timeline to chart events on as we study them...pretty cool.

I seriously think I need an intervention at this point, I'm so excited!

I sat Brett down on Monday and showed him everything...he loved it all. I'm building his suspense of school starting by leaving things out where he can see them, but we aren't using them yet. I think its beginning to drive him nuts and its only Thursday! Every day he says, "Mommy! Is today the day we start school?" He can hardly wait to get into all those books!

I am thanking God right now that we chose Sonlight...I can't think of a better fit for us!

We did it!

Well, we have ordered Brett's curriculum for the year :) Woo Hoo!

We will be using Horizons math for computation and supplementing with Singapore math (which is more word problems, critical thinking/logic).

Then we will be using the Core K curriculum from Sonlight. This will be for history (exposure to various cultures and locations all over the world), and Literature (classic books which will be read aloud to Brett: The Boxcar Children, Johnny Appleseed, The Family Under the Bridge, etc...) along with appropriate age readers to assist in his learning to read.

The thing I love about Sonlight is that while they teach from a sound Biblical viewpoint, they don't limit themselves strictly to Christian texts. They allow a child to be exposed to many things and ideas, presenting all sides of an argument. They teach how to use logic to understand and support belief systems. They teach a child to reason through why a certain viewpoint is against what they know as a Christian and to be able to defend their faith to others with reason in gracious strength and humility.

For science, we are just going to be doing little lessons through the month on seasons, water, weather,plants, environments (pond, desert, jungle...) that will begin to expose him to scientific topics.

Bible will consist of using daily devotions, scripture memory work and we will also be using a book from Doorposts called Plants Grown Up. (Doorposts is a great company by the way! Check them out at doorposts.com)
Handwriting will be practiced starting with letters and motor skills using a pencil, but will lead up to printing memory verses once he gains coordination in writing.

We will also be incorporating little lessons on body care and basic hygiene habits, safety and healthy living.

Lastly, we will be incorporating Anna Comstock's Outdoor Hour into our school time...you can see what we do by clicking on Our Family's Outdoor Hour in the side bar.

I know some of this is a repeat of my last entry, but now that we have made the decisions and finalized things, I wanted to share it with you.